City Colleges of Chicago Institutional Health
Client: City Colleges of Chicago | Partner: MGT Impact Solutions
Opportunity
City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) is Illinois’ largest community college system. They are dedicated to providing high-quality, affordable education that prepares a diverse student body for success in careers, further education, and life while serving as an engine of socioeconomic mobility and opportunity across Chicago’s neighborhoods.
A central focus of the 2021–2025 City Colleges of Chicago Strategic Plan was Institutional Health, which aimed to improve key organizational performance indicators, such as time to hire and procurement efficiency. Over the past few years, the leadership team has made significant progress through policy and practice changes, as well as technology investments. However, there is recognition that further work is needed.
The District Office has a small team dedicated to Institutional Health and Continuous Improvement, and asked Civic Consulting Alliance for support to assess Finance functions (including Procurement and Accounts Payable), Legal, and, to a lesser extent, HR.
“Civic Consulting Alliance has been a trusted partner to City Colleges of Chicago for nearly two decades. When my leadership team and I face complex challenges that require both strategic thinking and hands-on execution support, we call Civic Consulting Alliance. Their support — from the large-scale strategy to the everyday capacity needs — has helped City Colleges remain focused on our mission: opening doors of opportunity for Chicagoans and fueling the city’s workforce.”
Action
Civic Consulting Alliance partner MGT Impact Solutions supported City Colleges of Chicago in strengthening core Finance, Legal, and HR functions while building staff technical capacity through Excel and PowerPoint training.
“Working alongside Civic Consulting Alliance enables MGT Consulting Group to advance our social impact goals in partnership with leaders who are equally committed to community progress. Helping City Colleges of Chicago enhance operational effectiveness was deeply rewarding because when institutions run stronger, students can access economic mobility, and communities thrive. ”
The work unfolded in three phases over 10–12 weeks:
Conducted a current-state analysis of Finance, Legal, and HR, including process reviews, staff interviews, and user satisfaction assessments, producing a prioritized set of near- and long-term recommendations.
Developed an implementation roadmap with initiative owners, outlining sequencing, interdependencies, timing, ownership, and resources for each recommendation.
Built departmental capacity by providing change management and customer service frameworks, culminating in a toolkit to guide ongoing assessment and continuous improvement.
Impact
In the years ahead, we will continue to support CCC on projects to strengthen this institution and, ultimately, close race- and income-based gaps in college attainment and strengthen the pipeline from high school to college to career.
For example, we are in conversation about a student experience project to help CCC establish a consistent, high-quality service standard across all student interactions. This might entail researching best practices, synthesizing insights, and developing a recommended plan for building a culture of service excellence, including training, change management, and accountability structures.